He is co-founder of American Academy of Indic Studies (www.AAIndicStudies.org) and is the editor of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Springer).

He is Associate Professor in the department of Philosophy & Religion. He has published articles in journals such as Religious Studies Review, Worldviews, Religion Compass, Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Union Seminary Quarterly Review, and the Journal of Visual Anthropology. He also contributes to the Huffington Post, Washington Post’s forum On Faith, and Patheos.His research has been supported by the Fulbright fellowship and by the Wenner Gren grant. His teaching interests include Religion and Ecology, Indian films, and Religions and Cultures of South Asia and South Asian Diaspora in North America. Before joining UNT, he taught at North Carolina State University, Rutgers, Kean, and New Jersey City University. Interested in connecting ancient practices with contemporary issues, he is exploring the connections between religious traditions and sustainability in Hindu and Jain communities in India and the Indian diaspora. He serves as a research affiliate with Harvard University’s Pluralism Project, as scholar-in-residence with GreenFaith, as a board member of the Society for Hindu Christian Studies, and as a board member of the Executive Advisory Council of Hindu American Seva Charities, an NGO working with the White House Office for the faith-based initiatives. He has presented his research at Columbia University, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, University of South Florida, Florida International University, University of Toledo, Texas Christian University, High Point University, Lancaster University (UK), Andhra University (India), Univ of Rajasthan (India), and several conferences, high schools, radio and TV stations, temples, churches, Yoga centers, and other community centers.He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and an M.A. from Columbia University (both in Religious Studies). In his “previous life” he had also earned a B.S. in Computer Science from India and had worked as a software engineer in India and in New Jersey. Dr. Jain is an active member of several academic and community organizations, is fluent in several Indian languages, and has published poems in Hindi. He was born in Rajasthan and had also lived in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Karnatak (in India) and in New Jersey, Iowa, North Carolina, and Texas (in the USA). Some of his papers and articles are at:http://unt.academia.edu/PankajJain/Papers and videos are at http://www.youtube.com/pj2017. The Facebook page for his book is at:https://www.facebook.com/DharmaAndEcology

Thursday, December 18, 2008

In India, after 2.5 years

This time I felt a real change in even a small town like Banswara which now enjoys wireless broadband internet with international quality but unfortunately Mumbai has not changed even a bit in last 20 years or so that I have been observing, same pollution, traffic, negligible security even after the attack at the CST station.

Delhi, I have heard, has very aggresively improved its environmental situation with stringent pollution control, though I have not visited Delhi recently but Mumbai still lacks the political will. It is still very chaotic politically with Shiv Sena and other equally divisive organizations. Even congress has shown little interest to deal with the infrastructure or pollution or secutiry so far....may be that is why Sheela Dixit in Delhi keeps winning by working hard to improve Delhi.

Maybe the future is in towns like Banswara. I wish India sees its future in towns and villages like Banswara, the vision Gandhiji had once. After my Bachelor's degree, when I was working in Jodhpur and Udaipur, they seemed like a distant places compared to Mumbai. Now with internet and mobile phone revolution, every "sleepy village" of India has the same access to information as the big cities and that is a huge step forward...

The Gandhian vision could not be actualized while most of the villages were poor. So maybe it can happen now. Only if the people themselves were given more power to take their destiny in their own hands like the Panchayati Raj system that Gandhi had suggested...may be the information revolution will help further...

I went to a high school here in Banswara and about 2000 kids came to interact with me in their auditorium for two hours. I was astonished to see the intellectual energy of boys and girls. They had really challenging questions about India, USA, NRIs, their career, the dominance of English, importance of studying history, etc...This is one of the biggest change at the grass root of India: a new energy unleashed because of the information revolution. The kids challenged me with the questions about Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri! Hopefully this young empowered generation will prevent idiots from assuming too much political control - although in the US that never happened. The promise of democracy at least allows the people to kick the idiots out every 5 years.

Fortunately, the liberalized economy keeps the govenment and politicians out which was not possible 20 yrs back, unfortunately the pollution contol and the action against terrorism still needs government intervention hence no hope in the near future for India's security and pollution control: thanks to the politicians.

Also visited couple of ancient temples in Chittorgadh, amazing Shiva Lingamwith scars of the sword of Ghazani, according to the local legends...

The questions from the students of New Look High School:

1. Is brain drain good for India? Shouldn't all Indians return to India and help India?2. What is the need of studying history which is all about old forgotten people and places?3. What is so glorious about Indian heritage which is full of child marriage, caste problems and sati (widow burning)?4. Aren't NRIs like Sulman Rushdie and Arundharti Roy only after their personal gains? How are they helping India when they have even left their Indian citizenship.5. How to deal with poverty and corruption of India?6. What and how do you teach Indian films?7. How to deal with huge population of India? Is there any hope?8. How to think of Indian culture when we all want to focus on our career? Our parents also have limited info about both our future and about Indian culture.9. Why dont you come back and teach all these cultural subjects right here in India?10. Why should English be given importance in India?11. Aren't foreign MNCs are all about profit? Why dont they invest in Indian villages?

23 comments:

India’ future still lies in every big city of India simply because the Indian growth from last 5-10 yrs also came from big cities. So many of our generation (30’s-40’s) youth from smaller cities are NRIs or working in multinationals in bigger cities of India. This is the generation who has seen Internet from inception, Internet bubble of 90s gave us unique opportunity to see the world getting flatter. As a result many Indian IT models (BPO) started to make business sense. What you saw in Banswara - pro-active next generation is the byproduct of our success in big city.

I feel, in next few years we will see many more entrepreneurs from Indian bigger cities. They will make their name with their extra ordinary work/ achievement/ discovery! Why? With recent 5-7 yrs success, we have learnt to be fearless, competitive at national or even at international level! Recent comparative success in Olympics or Cricket is indicating the same belief. What we need now is a bigger product like Google or Microsoft where whole world follow and becomes synonymous with India. It may or may not be in IT (where we have already showed our mantle), it can be in any field!

Thanks for your comments. I wish I could agree with the anonymous commentator. Unfortunately, the big cities such as Mumbai are fast turning into mega polluters and hence my hopes turned sour with them. I also felt more energy and enthusiasm in the youth of smaller towns and villages compared to Mumbaikars whose quality of life has changed less radically than those of smaller towns and villages and hence I see the future leaders from smaller towns...

1. Is brain drain good for India? Shouldn't all Indians return to India and help India?

Ans. Brain Drain has actually helped India with massive reinvestments of the brains for India's economy and Indian culture abroad.

2. What is the need of studying history which is all about old forgotten people and places?

Ans: History is the best teacher for the humankind because it provides us with good rolemodels to follow and cautions us against our own past mistakes as well.

3. What is so glorious about Indian heritage which is full of child marriage, caste problems and sati (widow burning)?Ans: Indian culture is not just about sati, baal-vivaah, and jati-prathaa. Indian culture is also about the recognition of divinity in every being of the universe with its larger ecological importance, universal brotherhood based on global family, welcoming all religions to India since ancient times with its message for pluralism, amzing traditional scientific and technological advances based on "green" technologies...

4. Aren't NRIs like Sulman Rushdie and Arundharti Roy only after their personal gains? How are they helping India when they have even left their Indian citizenship.Ans: Whether we like it or not, every Indian born person is treated like an Indian spokesperson outside India, and by his/her personal achievements, (s)he adds to the Indian brand-recognition.

5. How to deal with poverty and corruption of India?Ans: Poverty and corruption are interlinked because both derive from wrong choice of politicians by Indians and wrong priorities by corrupt politicians. Only solution can come from youth of today who will emerge as better world leaders tomorrow.

6. What and how do you teach Indian films?Ans: Films are the vehicle of popular culture and they reflect the contemporary social and political developments. By taking popular films seriously, we can study the current socio-polical dynamics with better insights.

7. How to deal with huge population of India? Is there any hope?Ans: India is the youngest nation on the earth today based on the majority of its population of young people. On the contrary, most Western nations are growing older at a fast pace and majority of their populations will soon become a burden on their economies with less young productive hands. Hence, population in India is its asset not a burden, if this asset can be pruductively and creatively channelized for India's and worlds future.

8. How to think of Indian culture when we all want to focus on our career? Our parents also have limited info about both our future and about Indian culture.Ans: By choosing such careers in which Indian culture is not forgotten or ignored. If Gandhian ideas are adopted in every walk of the life, it is possible to lead a successful career and helping India/World simultaneously.

9. Why dont you come back and teach all these cultural subjects right here in India?Ans: Ironically, none or very few of the Indian universities have subjects that I can teach in the US universities so I must continue to teach India in the USA.

10. Why should English be given importance in India?Ans: English is another asset that Indians possess better than the Chinese, Japanese, or Russians. The three-language system of Indian state run schools has worked in the favor of Indian students, professionals, and Indian economy. Only problem is the extra glory attached to the English language. With the rapid spread of Hindi films in the world and mobile phones and computers available in Indian languages in India, more Indian languages will soon be at par with English.

11. Aren't foreign MNCs are all about profit? Why dont they invest in Indian villages? Ans: This is where sustainable (with green technologies)and inclusive (devloping all sectors of India) growth is imperative for India otherwise India will end up making same mistakes that were made in 1960s in the Western countries.

As Xrumer experts, we possess been using [url=http://www.xrumer-seo.com]Xrumer[/url] fitted a large time things being what they are and recollect how to harness the titanic power of Xrumer and adapt it into a Bills machine.

We also provender the cheapest prices on the market. Diverse competitors will charge 2x or even 3x and a end of the opportunity 5x what we charge you. But we feel in providing enormous mending at a small affordable rate. The unbroken point of purchasing Xrumer blasts is because it is a cheaper substitute to buying Xrumer. So we train to support that thought in cognizant and afford you with the cheapest standing possible.

Not simply do we cause the greatest prices but our turnaround heyday payment your Xrumer posting is wonderful fast. We compel take your posting done in the forefront you know it.

We also produce you with a sated log of loaded posts on manifold forums. So that you can catch a glimpse of seeking yourself the power of Xrumer and how we hold harnessed it to gain your site.[/b]

[b]Search Engine Optimization

Using Xrumer you can think to apprehend thousands upon thousands of backlinks for your site. Scads of the forums that your Place you force be posted on have exalted PageRank. Having your association on these sites can deep down serve establish up some top-grade quality back links and as a matter of fact as well your Alexa Rating and Google PageRank rating via the roof.

This is making your instal more and more popular. And with this increase in reputation as superbly as PageRank you can think to witness your milieu in effect downright high in those Search Engine Results.Conveyance

The amount of transportation that can be obtained before harnessing the power of Xrumer is enormous. You are publishing your locality to tens of thousands of forums. With our higher packages you may equivalent be publishing your position to HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of forums. Create 1 collection on a all the rage forum last will and testament inveterately rig out 1000 or so views, with say 100 of those people visiting your site. Modern imagine tens of thousands of posts on popular forums all getting 1000 views each. Your traffic liking go at the end of one's tether with the roof.

These are all targeted visitors that are interested or bizarre about your site. Deem how many sales or leads you can succeed in with this considerable gang of targeted visitors. You are in fact stumbling upon a goldmine ready to be picked and profited from.

Explore Our Adverse Prices at www.Pharmashack.com, The Prominent [b][url=http://www.pharmashack.com]Online Chemist's [/url][/b] To [url=http://www.pharmashack.com]Buy Viagra[/url] Online ! You Can also Corroborator announce to Crucial Deals When You [url=http://www.pharmashack.com/en/item/cialis.html]Buy Cialis[/url] and When You You [url=http://www.pharmashack.com/en/item/levitra.html]Buy Levitra[/url] Online. We Also Be subjected to a Signal Generic [url=http://www.pharmashack.com/en/item/phentermine.html]Phentermine[/url] On account of Your Intake ! We Offer Conjecture [url=http://www.pharmashack.com/en/item/viagra.html]Viagra[/url] and Also [url=http://www.pharmashack.com/en/item/generic_viagra.html]Generic Viagra[/url] !

I'm new around here, seems like a cool place though. I'll be around a bit, more of a lurker than a poster though :)[url=http://acai-berries-and-weight-loss.wetpaint.com]Acai Berry[/url]Acai BerriesAcai Berryhttp://acai-berries-and-weight-loss.wetpaint.comAcai Berry

You could easily be making money online in the underground world of [URL=http://www.www.blackhatmoneymaker.com]blackhat seo world[/URL], Don’t feel silly if you have no clue about blackhat marketing. Blackhat marketing uses not-so-popular or little-understood methods to produce an income online.

You could easily be making money online in the underground world of [URL=http://www.www.blackhatmoneymaker.com]blackhat script[/URL], You are far from alone if you haven’t heard of it before. Blackhat marketing uses little-known or misunderstood methods to produce an income online.

Generic Viagra is the world renowned medicine for erectile dysfunction and most men have forgotten they ever had a problem with erections after its use. Take it on empty stomach and it will work in 30 minutes. Erections can be achieved on stimulation.Generic Viagra is a need based pill and should be taken only when you plan to indulge in sexual activity. Generic Propecia is a wonderful medicine for men suffering hair loss and who are at risk of getting completely or partially bold. Propecia can also help you at the beginning stages of some prostatic problems. Viagra improves erections for most men no matter how long they have had erectile dysfunction, taken approximately 30 minutes before your plan of sexual activity and works on stimulation for around 4 hours.Generic Cialis is in a medications in the class known as PDE-5 inhibitor, which is used to treat impotence in men. Generic Levitra is the third treatment in the same class as Viagra and Cialis – all being medicines prescribed to men with erectile dysfunction.

Infatuation casinos? investigation this latest [url=http://www.realcazinoz.com]casino[/url] manage and itemization online casino games like slots, blackjack, roulette, baccarat and more at www.realcazinoz.com .you can also discontinuation our additional [url=http://freecasinogames2010.webs.com]casino[/url] pit oneself against on at http://freecasinogames2010.webs.com and develop in inevitable lolly ! another artistic [url=http://www.ttittancasino.com]casino spiele[/url] report in across is www.ttittancasino.com , as an alternate of german gamblers, extent well-wishing [url=http://www.realcazinoz.com]online casino[/url] bonus. so check this leading [url=http://www.omniget.co.il]online casino[/url] for free [url=http://www.casinosaction.com]casino bonus[/url] and 100's of online [url=http://www.thecasino.co.il]casino[/url] games.